Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Since June 1967, the Israeli occupation has
undertaken the Judaization of Jerusalem, by building settlements, confiscating
lands, demolishing houses (under the pretext of lacking a license), depriving
the citizens of building homes, and by imposing taxes (especially the ‘Arnona’
tax, or Israeli property tax).Of course,
all these procedures have affected sports and athletic clubs.

The recent report prepared by United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development in 2013 states that the construction of the
Separation Barrier annexed more Palestinian land and negatively impacted both
Palestinian communities on both sides, and the ensuing adversity has been
keenly felt in EJ. It is estimated that up to 55,000 Jerusalemites (a fifth of
the EJ Palestinian population) are now physically separated from the city
center as a result of the Barrier (OCHA, 2011). PCBS (2011) estimates that
2,900 households in the Jerusalem Governorate area have been displaced by the
Barrier’s construction and 9,100 dunums of land confiscated to build it upon
(some 18 per cent of the total West Bank land confiscated for the construction
of the Barrier). The most affected areas include Kufr `Aqab, Shu’fat refugee
camp, parts of `Anata, RasKhamis, and A’Sawahira, A’Sharqiyeh. Residents of
these areas now need to go through checkpoints, which are often overcrowded
with significant delays in travel time, to access health, education, and other
services to which they are entitled as Jerusalem residents.

Since the Barrier cuts through annexed EJ, those
55,000 Jerusalemites directly affected by the Barrier are still required to pay
municipal taxes as they still live within the greater Jerusalem Municipality,
even though they do not all enjoy all services (or the same level of such
services as Jerusalemites living within the Barrier) such as water, sewage, road
maintenance, postal services and garbage collection. As a result of their
physical separation from EJ, such areas also suffer from a security vacuum and
increased lawlessness. The Israeli police rarely enter the Municipal areas
outside the Separation Barrier while the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not
have security jurisdiction in these localities, leading to growing crime and
drug trafficking in these communities (Rosenberg, 2011).

Following the
establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the campaign to suppress Jerusalem's
institutions intensified. To a large extent this was accompanied by closing off
Jerusalem to Palestinians through setting up checkpoints on the roads
connecting the city with the other regions of the West Bank, and through
Israel's issuance of a decree barring West Bank and Gaza residents from
entering Jerusalem (in accordance with the decree regulating entry into Israel)
without a permit issued either by Israel's civil or military
administrations.

Between
2000 and 2014, Israel issued orders to close around forty of Jerusalem's
institutions, with Orient House, the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce, and the
Arab Higher Council for Tourism topping the list, along with many other
institutions working in development, youth and social affairs, and sports.[1]

The effects of restricted access to education are
compounded by the lack of recreational and cultural services and outlets for
the youth of EJ. For example, west Jerusalem has 1,000 public parks compared to
only 45 in EJ ; 34 swimming pools compared to three in EJ; 26 public libraries
compared to a mere two libraries in EJ; and 531 sports facilities against only
33 in EJ.[2] The discrepancies even in such socio-cultural
services aptly highlight the entrenched disadvantages of the Palestinian
population of Jerusalem.

All
clubs in East Jerusalem are registered with the Ministry of Youth and Sports,
as well as with the Ministry of Interior Affairs.Most of these clubs are also members of the
Palestine Football Association.According to the Israeli law, the majority of these clubs are illegal
because they are not registered with the Israeli authorities.Many of these clubs do not recognize the
Israeli law because of the obstacles which Israel puts before them.It is hard to get a license from the
authorities, consequently, they can be threatened to be closure at any time,
under the pretext of not possessing a license.

There
are about 25 clubs in East Jerusalem.Many have no place to practice their activities and to attract the
Jerusalemite youth.The majority of the
clubs rent small locations.A few have
their own locations; however some either have no location or rent a
location.These locations do not answer
the demands for all the activities of the clubs.In Ra’s al-Amoud, the Israeli authorities
built a huge settlement, which grabbed half of the clubs square.[3]

Jerusalem also suffers from the lack of
courts, since the Israeli authorities converted the Rawda field to a
municipality office, and changed part of the field of AbdallahIbn al Hussein in
Sheikh Jarrah to a street, and the other part to solid multiple usage court
that could not be useful for playing football and training.Also, using it requires permission from the
athletic administration of the Jerusalem municipality.The court of Dar al-Awlad was changed into a
parking lot.[4]

The biggest disaster was when part of St.
George School’s court was converted to a parking lot, and the other part was
rented to the American Consulate in Jerusalem.This court hosted thousands of matches and tournaments from the West
Bank, Gaza and the region; it was the main court of the YMCA.Also, part of the court in BeitHanina (north
of Jerusalem) was cut off for building a bypass road; the authorities
prohibited the use of the second part, and, while a settlement court was built
near the Lutheran Court on the Mount of Olives, it became hard to do any
restoration on it for security reasons.Near the village of Um Tooba south of Jerusalem a settlement, Jabal Abu
Ghneim, was built on the village’s land; the occupation confiscated the court
under the pretext of the security of the settlement.Where, therefore, do the children and the
youth in Jerusalem play and train?They
practice on the asphalt courts in the YMCA, between trucks and buses, in Sheikh
Jarrah and small municipal courts.

In
the old city, despite the intensity of the populated area, there are only two
playgrounds.Some of the clubs that
practice in the Esawiyyah are required to pay $60 each time they use the
field.Beyond even that, some of the
clubs are forced to travel across the checkpoints in order to practice on the
stadium of Feisal al Hussein, and pay $500 to each time they practice, or to
the Khadr Stadium in Bethlehem.Therefore, many clubs were not capable to cope with the burden of
professionalism.In another words, they
could not follow the clubs in the West Bank, who get sufficient support from
FIFA.[5]

The
municipality in Jerusalem aimed to establish public athletic organizations as
an alternative to the national clubs.The main purpose was to discharge the national clubs from the patriotic
content, and to marginalize them.The
occupation authority aimed to put pressure on the national clubs, and force
them to close their headquarters.[6]The Jerusalem municipality organizations are
spread in BeitHanina, Shu’fat, JabalAzzaitun, Soor Bahir, Beit Safafa, Esawiyya,
and others.Because of the financial
crises, the Arab clubs in Jerusalem could not face the challenges imposed by
these centers.

Players living in Jerusalem are deprived of
participation in the national football team on the pretext that they don’t
carry a Palestinian Passport.This
regulation is based on the instructions of FIFA and AFC.Of course, this also had a negative impact on
the psychology of the players, who had the wish to represent Palestine.[7]

This is main purpose was to discharge the national clubs from the patriotic content, and to marginalize them. The occupation authority aimed to put pressure on the national clubs, and force them to close their headquarters.

HISTORY OF PALESTINE SPORTS

Established in November 2009, this blog aims to introduce readers to the developments of sports in Palestine. HPS is concerned about highlighting and documenting Palestinian sports since the first decade of the 20th century to the present date, which will require contributions from all researchers and historians.For information, please contact;Issam Khalidiiskhalidi55@hotmail.com

Issam Khalidi, an independent scholar, lives in Monterey CA, US. Born in Jerusalem, Palestine. Received his PhD in 1987 from the Institute of Physical Culture, Moscow, Russia.

Articles and opinions published on this blog reflect the views of their authors.